The House of Representatives has said it would not force the implementation of the electronic voting (e-voting) system in the 2019 elections as Indonesia was not yet ready.

“One of the provisions agreed on by lawmakers in the deliberation of the election bill is that we will not apply the e-voting system in the near future,” said NasDem Party lawmaker Johnny G. Platte, who is also a member of the House's special committee for the deliberation of the bill.

Initially, the committee planned to implement the e-voting system in the 2019 legislative and presidential elections and enshrine it into law.

It claimed the e-voting system could ensure the transparency and accountability of the electoral process. Several House lawmakers were also of the opinion that it was time for Indonesia to move on to more advanced voting technology. It is believed that an electronic system might quicken vote counting and unsuccessful candidates’ recapitulation.

The committee recently held a working visit to Germany and Mexico, two countries that have applied e-voting systems. “However, what we found was that the e-voting system in Germany is problematic. The system is prone to being hacked,” Johnny said.

Committee chairman Lukman Edy of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said e-voting devices could be dangerous because they were prone to trans-national cybercrimes that could endanger Indonesia's data privacy.

"If we want to apply e-voting, maybe it should be conducted offline to minimize the potential of data sabotage. Moreover, the country's geographical conditions have not yet enabled all areas to be connected to the internet. Not all people are technology savvy,” Lukman said. (ebf)